Opportunity

CCOA is recruiting participants for focus groups to gain feedback on the draft career-span competencies.

CCOA will be holding virtual focus groups in October and November to hear input on the draft career-span competencies (CSC) created in response to registrant feedback. Key findings from the focus groups will be presented to the CCOA Council as the first phase of CSC consultation with CCOA registrants.

Call for applicants

Diversity of perspective is critical; therefore, we encourage applicants who meet any of the following attributes:

Are from more rural or remote areas
Identify as women
Are recent graduates and newer to practice
Are long serving in the profession
Are Indigenous
Are 2SLGBTQI+
Come from a societally non-dominant ethnicity or culture
Are persons with visible or non-visible disabilities

About the focus groups

Timing

The focus groups will be scheduled in October or November.

Commitment

The time commitment will be 2-4 hours in total: up to 90 minutes for one focus group session plus 1-2 hours to review preparatory material.

Scheduling

Focus groups will be scheduled at times we hope are convenient for practising chiropractors, including over the noon-hour, early evenings or weekends.

If there is high level of interest, we may not be able to include everyone who wants to participate in a focus group. CCOA must consider achieving a broad-based representation of registrants across the province in its scheduling.

Feedback collection & reporting

All participants will be required to sign a consent form and a Focus Group Engagement and Confidentiality Agreement before being scheduled for participation.
Focus groups will follow a semi-structured format and be analyzed following descriptive thematic analysis methods.
All focus groups will be recorded and transcribed for the purposes of analysis. To preserve participant confidentiality, no one will be identified by name when reporting results and the recordings will be destroyed after project completion.
Demographic and identity appreciation information is sought only for the purposes of supporting the need for diverse perspectives. The information will not be shared with others beyond the project team. The information will be destroyed at completion of the focus groups.

How to apply

Click here to complete a short questionnaire.

Deadline extended

October 22, 2025, 4:00 p.m.

Background information

As part of its current (2022-2027) strategic plan, the CCOA Council launched a review of its current Continuing Competency Program (CCP). Colleges are required by the Health Professions Act (HPA) to ensure registrants engage in continued professional education, which is a major component of a CCP.

After a comprehensive registrant survey on the current competency program, we heard that chiropractors would like the continuing education component of the CCP to be connected more meaningfully to competencies.

Based on this and other feedback, CCOA created draft career-span competencies designed to align to registrants’ professional development needs. When finalized, career-span competencies will be used by chiropractors to self-reflect and develop learning and development plans.

More consultation coming for all chiropractors

All regulated chiropractors will have the opportunity to comment on the draft competencies during the Phase 2 consultation–a survey to the full profession–scheduled for November and December. For more information, visit Continuing Competency Program review.

Questions

Please email administration@theccoa.ca.